Karzai heads to Turkey for trilateral summit

Afghan President Hamid Karzai Tuesday left for Ankara to take part in a two-day summit focusing on Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Presidential Palace said.

Karzai, leading a high-level delegation, will attend the trilateral summit, Xinhua quoted a palace statement as saying.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will also attend the eighth Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Summit which opens Wednesday, hosted by Turkey's President Abdullah Gul.

"On his three-day official visit, Karzai is also scheduled to separately meet Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss ways to enhance bilateral relations," the statement added.

The summit, held as a series since 2007, focuses on issues such as security, economic cooperation, education, inter-parliamentary cooperation, dialogue and mutual trust.

Karzai is accompanied by Foreign Minister Zarar Ahmad Osmani and Defence Minister Bismellah Mohammadi among others.